Technology • Innovation • Publishing — Issue #223
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Important Items
COVID resurgence prompts new CDC mask guidance for Long Island and parts of NYC — www.cbsnews.com
This was 2 weeks ago: Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk counties all told to mask indoors. #WearAMask
Health Department Issues a Commissioner’s Advisory as NYC Faces High Levels of COVID-19, Influenza, and RSV
This was last week: The Advisory strongly recommends masking in public indoor settings and crowded outdoor settings, and other proven precautions such as vaccination, testing, hand hygiene, and staying home when sick. #WearAMask
Everyone Is Sick Right Now — www.wired.com
If your kids, your coworkers, and everyone you know has been feeling sick, here’s why: For the past two years, social distancing kept seasonal viruses at bay. Now they’re roaring back. #WearAMask
Innovation
Disney Made a Movie Quality AI Tool That Automatically Makes Actors Look Younger (or Older)
With just a few clicks, actors can look younger or older without the need for expensive visual effects. #AI
AI to replace the mundane parts of your job
The Mechanical Professor, by @emollick — as he writes, “If you didn’t see at least one example that amazed you, I would be surprised.” Agreed! #AI
The New Chat Bots Could Change the World. Can You Trust Them?
Siri, Google Search, online marketing and your child’s homework will never be the same. Then there’s the misinformation problem. #AI
ChatGPT Is Dumber Than You Think — www.theatlantic.com
Per @ibogost, ChatGPT AI not a tool that will end student essays or writer’s jobs. It’s an instrument, a synthesizer for language. #AI
Technology
Amazon is introducing a new TikTok-like feature that allows users to ‘shop as you scroll’ from a social feed of videos and photos — www.businessinsider.com
Amazon joins companies like Meta and Google seeking to emulate the success of TikTok’s wildly popular and lucrative video-sharing format. #Amazon
LinkedIn Adds More Analytics for Creators — www.adweek.com
In Creator mode, follower growth and demographics can be tracked and analyzed. #LinkedIn
Archiving official documents as an act of radical journalism
MT @mediagazer The Internet Archive has launched Democracy’s Library, a searchable repository of government publications from around the world, a useful resource for reporters. #journalism
Microsoft Registers New Patent For AI-Generated Audio in Games and Movies
HT @BISG Microsoft has registered a new patent that indicates the development of a new technology for Ai-generated audio in video games and movies. #AI #Audio
Lensa AI app: What to know about the self portrait generator
The Lensa AI app is creating eye-catching self portraits, but is also being questioned over its fundamental premise and data policies. “You grant us a perpetual, revocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable, sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works from and transfer your User Content, without any additional compensation to you …You grant us consent to use the User Content, regardless of whether it includes an individual’s name, likeness or persona, sufficient to indicate the individual’s identity. You further acknowledge and agree that our use of your User Content will not result in any injury to you or to any person you authorized to act on your behalf.” #AI
Tim Berners-Lee’s “Oh, Yeah?” button could have changed the internet. — slate.com
File this under: You learn something new every day! In the ’90s, Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, suggested something to help us sort through information.
Musk’s Neuralink faces federal probe, employee backlash over animal tests
www.reuters.com
Elon Musk’s Neuralink, a medical device company, is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths.
Congress axes media revenue sharing bill after pushback from Google and Meta
Congress has cut a bill that would have let media outlets ask for link revenue sharing from Google, Meta and other tech giants. #Google #Meta
Publishing
Markus Dohle Steps Down as CEO of Penguin Random House; Nihar Malaviya Appointed as Interim Successor
Book written, designed, and published in 12 hours and $0 spent w AI — twitter.com
MT @LyskovAndrei Just launched our book “The AI Sages”. Written, designed, and published in 12 hours and $0 spent w/ @LucasCohen12 How did we do it? We relied entirely on the text and image output of ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion. You can learn more & buy it here. #AI
The ‘New York Times’ Best Seller Lists Theories Explained — www.esquire.com
Per @svershbow, No one outside The New York Times knows exactly how its best sellers are calculated — and the list of theories is longer than the actual list of best sellers. Attempts to game the list are as frequent in book publishing as new Danielle Steel novels. #BookPublishing
The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2023–2024 — www.janefriedman.com
Should you self-publish or traditionally publish? This infographic will help you determine the best choice for you and your project. Via @janefriedman #BookPublishing
Use 2023 literary calendar with 152 bookish occasions to celebrate and support books — buildbookbuzz.com
HT @craicer Include celebrating several holidays from this extensive 2023 literary calendar in your book marketing plan for next year. Via @sandrabeckwith #BookMarketing
Writers’ earnings have plummeted — with women, Black and mixed race authors worst hit
Research shows that the income of professional authors averages only £7,000 in the UK, making the profession ‘inaccessible and unsustainable’ to most. #BookPublishing
First state library for incarcerated youth to open in January
At Echo Glen Children’s Center, a state library will soon open for some of Washington State’s incarcerated youth. #Libraries
NYC public libraries say proposed budget cuts may ‘push us over the edge’
New York City’s public libraries may have to cut staff, hours, branches and programming as they face potential multi-million-dollar budget cuts in Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to curtail city spending. #Libraries
How publishers are learning to create and distribute news on TikTok
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
Across 44 countries we find that around half (49%) of publishers are regularly updating TikTok accounts with news-related content.
Predictions for Journalism 2023 — www.niemanlab.org
How a Good Book Became the ‘Richest’ of Holiday Gifts — www.nytimes.com
As Christmas came to be celebrated in the home, choosing the right volume was a way to show intimate understanding of the person opening the package. #GiftaBook
Easy Bookish Traditions To Start this Holiday Season — bookriot.com
If you want to infuse even more bookishness into your holiday celebrations, here are some ideas for new literary traditions! #GiftaBook
The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2022 — www.newyorker.com
The New Yorker’s editors and critics choose this year’s essential reads in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. #BestBooks
BookRiot: Our Favorite Books of 2022
Vulture’s Best Books of 2022
Buzzfeed: 25 Books From 2022 You’ll Love — www.buzzfeednews.com
From historical fantasy and riveting romance to heartbreaking memoir and more — these are the books from 2022 we loved. #BestBooks
The Marginalian: Favorite Books of 2022 — www.themarginalian.org
From Rumi to Blake to Nick Cave, by way of trees, hummingbirds, grief, and music. Via @brainpicker
Time Magazine: The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 — time.com
From Stacy Schiff’s ‘The Revolutionary’ to Imani Perry’s ‘South to America,’ here are the best nonfiction books of the year. #BestBooks
EW: The 10 best romance novels of 2022 — ew.com
Here are the 10 romance books that made us cheer, cry, and swoon the hardest this year. #BestBooks
Smithsonian Magazine: The Ten Best History Books of 2022
Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and illuminate how the nation ended up where it is today. #BestBooks
NYT: The Best Children’s Books of 2022 — www.nytimes.com
Here are the most notable picture and middle grade books, selected by The Times’s children’s books editor. #BestBooks
Someone banned a Berenstain Bears book — twitter.com
MT @jonfreadom Well, it happened. Someone banned a Berenstain Bears book… #BookBans
Stores Pull LGBT-Themed Books as Putin Signs Expanded ‘Gay Propaganda’ Ban — www.themoscowtimes.com
Russian bookstores have started removing LGBT-themed works from their catalogues after President Vladimir Putin signed a wide-reaching ban on expressions of LGBT identity into law on Monday. #BookBans
Resources & Opportunities
Professional Development Grants to WMG Members
The WMG Rise Fund will provide monetary assistance in the form of grants to help members grow their professional knowledge, network, and experience. All WMG members with a minimum of one full year of active membership are eligible. Apply by January 31, 2023. @WMG_NYC
The Center for Fiction
MT @Center4Fiction Our first Literary Auction is now live online! Bid on dinners with authors, meet and greets with industry experts, and more in support of The Center’s programming through December 16th!
WNDB 2022 Auction
@diversebooks auction closes today! #BooksSaveLives
Advent of Code 2022
IT folks: Check out Advent of Code — 50 mini programming puzzles (2 per day) to solve before Dec 25. Join anytime. #developers
